Details of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, according to the White House.
- Monument was designated by President Clinton under authority of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president unilateral authority to designate national monuments. Congress designates na-tional parks.- The national monument encompasses 1.7 million acres in Utah that include the Grand Staircase south of Bryce Canyon, the Kaiparowits Plateau east of Bryce Canyon and Escalante Canyon north of Lake Powell and south of Capitol Reef.
- The proclamation was deemed necessary to protect areas rich in outstanding beauty and scientific value, in particular archaeological, geologic, biologic and paleontological resources. The rock formations reflect almost 4 billion years of geologic history in an area considered to be the most remote in the lower 48 states.
- The designation was specifically designed to block development of a coal mine being pro-posed in the Kaiparowits Plateau. Andalex Resources has leases on coal reserves and is in the process of securing permits to mine the coal and haul it by truck to rail heads 200 miles to the west. Clinton has encouraged Andalex to follow the lead of PacifiCorp and look to exchange Kaiparowits leases for other coal reserves.
- Clinton has directed the secretary of the Interior to accelerate exchanges of 180,000 acres of school trust lands that would be isolated within the new monument, as well as the exchange of parcels located in existing national parks and monuments. Clinton has offered to exchange inholdings for "more accessible and developable federal resources of equal value elsewhere in the state."
- Clinton has promised that existing uses will be protected. Grazing will continue under existing federal law, and hunting and fishing will continue under state laws. Access to private land will not be affected.
- The Bureau of Land Management will continue to manage the lands to minimize costs until a management plan can be developed. The monument will be managed within the president's existing balanced budget.
- The federal government makes no claims to water rights.